SJ POWELL

SJ Powell is a speculative fiction writer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their work is concerned with non-human being(s), animal others, and worlds that are not our own. They received a BA in English, Africana Studies, and Environmental Studies from Williams College. They are a member of the hotbed artist collective. 

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Education

Williams College, Williamstown, MA, Class of 2022

Bachelor of Arts in English, Concentration in Africana Studies and Environmental Studies

Honors and Achievements


Dean’s List, Williams College, 2018-2022

Class of 1960s Scholar in English

Highest Honors in English

Benjamin B. Wainwright, 1920, Prize in English

Robert F. Rosenberg Prize in Environmental Studies 

Hubbard Hutchinson 1917 Memorial Fellowship

Art for Social Justice Prize 

Research and Writing Experience
 

Contest Judge, 2025 Parsec Short Story Contest, April 2025. 

First Reader, Hexagon

First Reader, Fusion Fragment

The Micro-Residency at Bischoff Inn, Tamaqua, PA, March 2024

Wassaic Project Residency, Wassaic, NY, Summer 2024

Hurston/Wright Foundation Virtual Writers Weekend Retreat, Summer 2023 

City Books Writer’s Residency, Pittsburgh, PA, Spring 2023 

Yale Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), Yale University, Summer 2021 

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, Williams College, 2020 - 2022

Readings and Presentations

“Playhouse Androids’ Lament on the Ice-Moon Galatea,” To The Outward Flowering You Made of Me, Bottom Feeder Books, March 2025.

“Playhouse Androids’ Lament on the Ice-Moon Galatea,” Strange New Worlds, Big Idea Bookstore, December 2024. 

“Kudzu Boy Dreaming.” City Books & Poetry Lounge Residents’ Reading, Poetry Lounge, April 2024.

“The Companion.” Red Dog Reading Series, Carlow University, October 2023. 

“a cult of tragedy.” English Honors Thesis Presentation, Williams College, June 2022. 

“call the crows home.” Winner of the Benjamin B. Wainwright Award for Best Short Fiction, Williams College, March 2022. Judge: Pulitzer Prize Winner Edward P. Jones.

“Mother of Monsters: A New History of Black Female Monstrosity.” Research presentation given at the Leadership Alliance National Symposium, Yale University, July 2021. 

“Farewell to the Flesh: Blackness, Monstrosity, and the Aptitude of the Human.” Research roundtable presented at Mellon Mays Northeast Regional Conference, Brown University, February 2021. 

Publications

“Mooncalf,” (reprint), Empyrean Literary Magazine Vol. 3, Issue 12, December 2024. 

“Playhouse Androids’ Lament on the Ice-Moon Galatea,” Almost Perfect Press, October 2024.   

“Kudzu Boy Dreaming,” (reprint), The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror Vol. 5, edited by Paula Guran, October 2024. 

“Brood Baby,” Cosmic Horror Monthly #50, August 2024.

“The Companion,” Fusion Fragment #19, November 2023. 

“Kudzu Boy Dreaming,” FIYAH Lit Magazine: Issue 26, April 2023. 

“Mooncalf,” Bunker Projects Review, January 2023.

“The Other Shore,” Atlas and Alice Literary Magazine: Issue 18, May 2021.